Metallic railway-tie



W. T. FORBES & R. 0. KERR.

METALLIC RAILWAY TIE.

No. 408,964. Patented Aug. 13, 1889.

N. Perms, mwmm amn Wahington. o. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER T. FORBES, OF ATLANTA, AND ROBERT C. KERR, OF AUGUSTA, GEORGIA.

M ETALLIC RAI LWAY-TIE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,964, dated August 13, 1889.

Serial No. 30 L870. (No model.)

To all whom, it ntay concern:

Be it known that we, WALTER T. FORBES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Atlanta, county of Fulton, State of Georgia, and ROBERT C. KERR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Augusta, in the county of Richmond and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallic Railway-Ties; and we do declare'the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of devices employed for the purpose of retaining in place and supporting railway-rails, commonly known as chairs and ties, and is intended to apply especially to that class of the same composed wholly of metal, the object being to form a tie that shall be both light and have sufficient stiffness to prevent its being permanently bent by the weights upon the rails; also, to form a chair that shall be attached to the tie by the bolts that secure the rail in place, said chair being reversible, so that in case one side be damaged or worn out it may be reversed and the opposite side brought in contact with the rails.

I11 constructing this tie rectangular metallic blocks are provided, preferably of castiron. These blocks are provided on two sides diametrically opposite with seats for the rails and are pierced transversely to said rail-seats with a circular opening through which is passed the tie by which each pair of blocks or chairs are connected.

This tie consists of a metal tube of suitable length secured to the chairs by the same bolts that hold the rail in place, said bolts passing through the flange of the rail, the block or chair, and into the tube. The objects gained by using a tube in place of a solid bar are that the same weight of metal in this form is found to possess greater rigidity than in any other and to present a comparatively large surface upon the road-bed for the support of the rails.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate this invention, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a railway provided with our improved ohair'and ties. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of a tie with the chairs attached. Fig. 3 shows one of the chairs separated from the tie and divided horizontally.

In the several figures, A represents the tie, formed from a piece of metallic tubing (preferably steel) of sufficient length to suit the gage of the road on which it is to be used and sufficiently stiff to bear the strains to which it may be subjected in use without bending or crushing. Upon this tubular tie are placed the rectangular blocks forming the chairs B B, which are also of metal and provided upon the diametrically-opposite sides with projecting lips a a, which lips embrace the edge of the base of the rails C 0 when the parts are in position.

In order to secure the rails in place upon the chair and also the chair to the tubular tie, bolts 1) b are passed down through the rail and suitable perforations in the chair, screwing into the tie, thus firmly uniting the whole, as shown at the right in Fig. 2 of the drawings; or, if desired, the bolts may be passed upward from the interior of the tube and a nut screwed down upon the flange of the rail, as shown at the left in the same figure.

In Fig. 3 a chair is shown divided into two parts, which may be found useful in some cases; When so constructed, the holdingbolts Z) I) pass down entirely through both ,parts and the tie.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, the following:

The combination of the tubular tie, the reversible chair, the rails supported by said oh air, and the bolts passing through the rail base and chair into the tie for the purpose of securing the several parts together, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WALTER T. FORBES.

ROBERT C. KERR. Witnesses:

G. BURROUGHS, S. M. CHANDLER. 

